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The Devil in the Dark (episode)
The Enterprise arrives at Janus VI, where an unknown monster is destroying machinery and killing the miners, threatening the entire mining operation. Summary On Janus VI, a miner named Schmitter replaces Sam at his guard post. Moments after Chief Vanderberg and the other guards move on, they hear a scream and return to find Schmitter reduced to a crisp. Two days later, the ''Enterprise'' arrives at Janus VI in reponse to a distress call. For the past three months, a mysterious creauture has been terrorizing the mining colony there, resulting in the deaths of over fifty people. Pergium production has come to a halt, and it is the Enterprise crew's job to get it back on track. The deaths have all been caused by a mysterious corrosive acid of an unknown type; this acid has also been used to sabotage machinery on the lower levels. Only one man saw the creature and lived: Ed Appel, who shot it with his phaser type-1 with no effect. As Kirk, Spock, and McCoy discuss possibilities in Vanderberg's office, they are summoned to the colony's nuclear reactor by an alarm. The creature has killed the guard outside, burned its way in, and stolen the reactor's main circulating pump. Scotty says he can rig up a replacement that will last a little while, but without that pump the reactor will go supercritical and irradiate half the planet. Kirk and Spock deduce that they may be dealing with a silicon-based lifeform, rather than the normal carbon-based found throughout the galaxy. This would explain why the creature does not show up on sensors and why it was impervious to Appel's phaser. Kirk summons Giotto and a security team, and has Spock adjust their phaser type-2s to be more effective against silicon. The security team is disptached to level 23, which was opened just before the attacks began. A security man is killed by the creature, bringing Kirk and Spock to the scene. They see the creature, and fire on it, damaging it, but it gets away, tunneling through the rock with its acid. The search teams focus in on where the creature was seen, Attit-26, and Kirk runs into it again. It does not attack him, however, and soon Spock arrives and initiates a Vulcan mind meld with it. He learns that it is a sentient being of a race called the Horta, and was murdering the miners because they were inadvertently killing her children by destroying "useless" silicon nodules that were actually Horta eggs. McCoy manages to cure the Horta's wound with thermal concrete, and she returns the pump. Spock negotiates an agreement between the miners and the Horta; the miners will leave the Horta alone and the baby Horta, soon to begin hatching, will help the miners locate new sources of mineral in the planet. Log Entries *''Captain’s log, stardate 3196.1. A distress call from the pergium production station on Janus VI has brought the Enterprise to that long-established colony. Mr Spock, Dr McCoy, and I have beamed down to meet with Chief Engineer Vanderberg, administrative head of Janus VI. '' Memorable Quotes "No Kill I" "What is that, a plea for us not to kill it or a promise that it won't kill us?" : - Kirk, after Spock's brief mind-meld with the Horta "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!" "You're a healer, there's a patient– that's an order." : - McCoy and Kirk "That's right, lieutenant, just beam it down to these coordinates, and never mind what I want it for– I just want it!" : - McCoy to Uhura. "It won't die! By golly, Jim, I'm beginning to think I can cure a rainy day." "Can you help it?" "Help'' it? I cured it! I had the ship beam down about a hundred pounds of that concrete we use to make emergency shelters out of; it's mostly silicon. So, I just troweled it into the wound, and it'll act like a bandage until the wound heals. Look– good as new!" :- 'McCoy' and 'Kirk' "''Really, sir, my modesty–" "Does not bear close examination, Mr. Spock; I suspect you're becoming more and more human all the time." "You– Sir, I see no reason to stand here and be insulted." : - Spock and Kirk Background Information * Barry Russo would go on to portray Commodore Robert Wesley in "The Ultimate Computer". Creature shop specialist Prohaska previously portrayed the Talosian menagerie animals in "The Cage", and would go on as the mugato in "A Private Little War" and Yarnek in "The Savage Curtain". * This is the acknowledged favorite Star Trek episode of Captain Kirk actor William Shatner whose father died during filming. Shatner insisted on finishing his dialogue scenes and after he left for the funeral, a stand-in completed his shots with Spock and the Horta, filmed from behind. When the scenes were later edited together, in several sequences, Shatner has his phaser up and the stand-in does not. * A portion of a Horta tunnel will be seen in "Patterns of Force" as the entrance to the Underground's underground. *Bantam Books published a series of novelizations called "foto-novels," which took photographic stills from actual episodes and arranged word balloons and text over them, to create a comic book formatted story. The ninth installment was an adaptation of this episode. * Recycled Horta eggs would later be used in the re-designed Engineering set in the second season. * The unbroken Horta eggs were toy bouncing balls painted gold. * The reactor for the colony is the same piece of equipment in Engineering that Kirk's double phasered in "The Enemy Within". *George Takei (Sulu) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) do not appear in this episode. * Janos Prohaska, the creator of the Horta costume, actually wore it into producer Gene L. Coon's office, as if to say "Look what I designed". Gene was so impressed by it, he was inspired to write this episode so it could be used. *The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel "Devil in the Sky" is a sequel of sorts to this episode. * The WildStorm comic "Star Trek Special" featured a short story of the Borg attacking Janus IV. * Although Davis Roberts is credited with playing security guard Lewis, this cannot be the same Davis Roberts from "The Empath". Roberts was already in his 50s when he appeared in that episode – the man in "The Devil in the Dark" is considerably younger. * "The Devil in the Dark" was the third episode of the remastered version of The Original Series to air. It premiered in syndication on the weekend of and most notably featured new effects shots of the pergium production station, the Horta burning through a mine wall, and final fly-by of the Enterprise. Production Timeline *First draft script: *Final draft script: *Filmed middle to late *Original airdate: *Remastered airdate: Links and References VHS edition available through Amazon under ISBN 6300213307. Main Cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * James Doohan as Scott Guest Stars * Ken Lynch as Vanderberg * Brad Weston as Ed Appel * Biff Elliot as Schmitter * George E. Allen as Roberts (credited as Engineer #1) * John Cavett as a security guard * Barry Russo as Giotto Co-Stars * Janos Prohaska as the mother Horta (uncredited) * Dick Dial as Sam (uncredited) * Davis Roberts as Security Crewman Lewis (uncredited) * Frank da Vinci as Vinci (uncredited) * Eddie Paskey as Leslie (uncredited) * Ron Veto as Harrison (uncredited) * William Blackburn as Hadley (uncredited) References 2210s; 2240s; cerium; Chamber of the Ages; Distant Past; gold; Horta; Janus VI; Janus VI colony; Osborne; pergium; phaser type-1; phaser type-2; platinum; PXK reactor; silicon; thermal concrete; tricorder; Vault of Tomorrow; Vulcan mind meld; uranium External Links * Devil in the Dark, The de:Horta rettet ihre Kinder es:The Devil in the Dark fr:The Devil in the Dark nl:The Devil in the Dark